IELTS Listening Part 4: How Desert Animals Survive Without Water

Part Four. You will hear a lecture about how desert animals survive.

第四部分。你將聽到一場關於沙漠動物如何生存的講座。

You have some time to look at questions thirty-one to forty.

你有一些時間看第三十一到四十題。

Now listen carefully and answer questions thirty-one to forty.

現在請仔細聽，並回答第三十一到四十題。

Good morning, everyone. Today we're heading somewhere very hot.

大家早安。今天我們要去一個非常炎熱的地方。

How can an animal live for weeks without a single drink?

動物怎麼能幾個星期一口水都不喝還活著呢？

Well, let's begin with the most famous example, the camel.

好，我們先從最有名的例子說起：駱駝。

Many people think the hump is full of water.

很多人以為駝峰裡裝滿了水。

In fact, it's mostly fat, which the camel uses for energy.

其實裡面主要是脂肪，駱駝用它來獲取能量。

And when it does find water, it can drink a hundred litres in ten minutes!

而一旦找到水，牠十分鐘就能喝下一百公升！

Now, smaller animals have a different problem.

那麼，小型動物面臨的問題就不一樣了。

They lose heat and water very quickly through their skin.

牠們會透過皮膚很快地流失熱量和水分。

The kangaroo rat is my favourite answer to this!

更格盧鼠是我最喜歡的答案！

It never drinks at all, and gets water from dry seeds.

牠從來不喝水，而是從乾種子裡獲取水分。

During the day, it stays in a cool burrow under the sand.

白天，牠待在沙子下面涼爽的洞穴裡。

But perhaps the cleverest trick belongs to a tiny beetle!

不過，最聰明的招數也許屬於一隻小小的甲蟲。

It lives in the Namib Desert, near the Atlantic coast.

牠生活在納米比沙漠，靠近大西洋海岸。

On foggy mornings, it climbs to the top of a dune,

在起霧的早晨，牠會爬到沙丘頂上，

and points its back into the wind.

把背部對著風。

Tiny drops collect on its back and run straight into its mouth!

小水珠聚在牠背上，直接流進牠嘴裡！

So, what about animals that hunt?

那麼，捕獵的動物又是怎樣的呢？

Most of them simply avoid the heat by hunting at night.

大多數只是靠夜間捕獵來避開炎熱。

Take the fennec fox, with its enormous ears.

比如耳朵特別大的耳廓狐。

Those ears help it hear insects moving under the sand.

這對耳朵能幫牠聽到沙子下面蟲子的動靜。

They also release heat from its body, a bit like a radiator.

牠們還能把體內的熱量散出去，有點像散熱器。

Sadly, these clever animals now face a serious problem.

遺憾的是，這些聰明的動物如今面臨著一個嚴重的問題。

Deserts are getting hotter, and towns are using more groundwater.

沙漠越來越熱，城鎮也在抽取更多地下水。

Some small waterholes have already disappeared completely.

一些小水坑已經完全消失了。

So, protecting these waterholes must be our first priority.

所以，保護這些水坑必須是我們的首要任務。

Next week, we'll look at animals in the Arctic instead.

下週，我們會改講北極的動物。

Don't worry, it'll be a lot cooler!

別擔心，那會涼快得多！

That is the end of Part Four.

第四部分到此結束。